As Asia’s VC funding slows down, here’s how you don’t have to

Photo credit: aotaro.

In many economies, the global market is currently struggling to find sturdy ground. The Wall Street Journal reports that “…startup founders across Asia [are finding that] venture capitalists are hitting the brakes on funding.”

In a world where the best and brightest are finding startup capital from VC firms incredibly difficult to access, how can your company survive and thrive?

Work hard, save like crazy and build connections

The route I chose when building my first company was quite simple. I knew I wanted to work with technology, so I quickly found a job opening in retail. At one of the world’s largest tech retailers, I worked my tail off. I rarely missed an opportunity to pick up some overtime, and when I wasn’t working at the store, I was completing side-jobs for clients I was able to find online.

As a result, I not only saved the $20,000 I needed to launch my business, but I gained some valuable life experience along the way. Part of that life experience brought me new connections and relationships with people who had the same passion for all-things-tech like I did. Naturally, when I launched my tech review channel on YouTube and created a tech blog, I leaned on the specialized expertise of the people within my network.

I earned money, learned important life lessons and (most importantly) avoided selling equity. To this day, I own 100 percent of my business. Using my own money to create my company meant that every dollar we spend during production and in expansion carried a weight. If I had started out with investor funding, I’m not sure I would have given the same importance to my corporate purchasing decisions.

Partner with talent and lower startup costs

Hiring quality talent represents one of the biggest costs in starting up a business. If you can find partners that are willing to both partner with you financially and devote time to the project, you’ve hit a homerun. Going into business with a partner is a major decision. In fact, it could literally make or break your business before it’s even incorporated.

You need to look for the following in a potential business partner:

• Can you imagine spending hours working together every day? A business partnership is like a marriage, but with a million times more stress. If you aren’t comfortable being around each other for extended periods of time, it just isn’t going to work out in the long run.

• Is your partner financially stable? A partner that needs to draw money out of the company to cover irresponsible life choices will drain your resources and burden the project.

• Your strengths need to complement each other. Between your founding partners, you need to have all the bases covered. Find someone that is able to strengthen your weaknesses.

•  Set clear Areas of Responsibility (AORs). Communication is key, and the process of communicating effectively starts with agreeing on what parts of the business each individual will be accountable for.

• Discuss the long-term vision for the brand or service. If your partner is looking to cash out quickly, while you want to change the world over the long-term, your value systems may be too far apart to make it work.

If you still value an individual and want them to be part of your organization, but you sense they wouldn’t make a good partner, you can always hire them to complete assignments for you. Just realize that in the short-term, hiring an individual is far more expensive than partnering with them. Plus, employees are in fact less loyal to your company. A recent article published on AutoEnrolment.co.uk stated: “65 percent of workers hired looked for another position within the first 91 days of starting a new job.”